Yiannis – Master of Awakenings

Lula Lounge hosted a very elegant event with dinner and a concert performed by Yiannis Kapoulas. He is a highly attuned and aware form of vitality. His precision of various stringed instruments brings forth conjuring of mystical landscapes where you let your fervor be free. His opening number, “A Rose in the desert”, is both very deep and insightful. The listener is now truly being awakened to an experience of a pilgrimage. He continues this journey with a high flying number called, “One to another”, that simply wants your energy to soar.

Yiannis goes into the third song, which in my opinion is the most important song, is the title track, “Awakenings”. The story behind this piece is of a person of great meaning that went into a hospital, slipped into a coma and eventually awoke and is living a very beautiful life today . The texture of this piece is rich and passionate and sends a message from the devotional world of hope.

Yiannis’ energy has a various combination of spiritually being punched in the head and being soulfully hugged at the same time. Watching him play is kind of watching a super happy spider dancing all over your being. You are simply a fly trapped in a web and want to surrender to his process. There was a moment here where I saw a woman jump on stage to film this important show. As it turns out it was his wife, who thoroughly supports this man’s art.

Speaking of other people besides Yiannis, his band mates were some of the best musicians I have witnessed in a long time. On Bass was Evan Porter, who kept things clean, but at one point seemed to go off in left field and was pulling away from the band, that he held the sound together from outer space. Dan Klas was on drums and seemed to pilot the ship that kept everyone moving forward into metaphysical space. Giovanni Campanelli played keyboards like a great progressive rock god, could I slip in the name Rick Wakeman. Oh I just did. Then there was George Barbus on percussion. He was simply fantasic, and I had to compliment him after the show, because he reminded me on one of my favourite percussionist’s, Ray Cooper. Angelo Kapoulas also played keyboards and filled the room with his delightful wall of sound. Then the woman, who jumped on stage earlier, Elena Luka, got up and sang a couple of songs. Well, we then were treated an absolutely incredible voice that had the audience hypnotized.

Yiannis gave us a very special story about his Father and how he built these guitars for him. Then we find out that he is sitting in the audience. You could feel the warmth of the room get a little cozier. Other instrumentals that Yiannis played took you to places like a great caravan with very happy gypsies and complacent camels, places of breaking dishes! OPA! We got to be unphysical and danced in the rain to crazy progressive interludes that freed your essence.

I believe the message Yiannis wants to share with everyone is to emotional attach yourself to something that you feel is beautiful. What I got out of this experience is that his music took me to a higher echelon of spiritual space and we need people like him to fulfill the great faculty of banality and give us a purpose to enjoy the unique energy that we all carry.